My future pilot turns 9!

What a year it has been for my son Lucas! His fascination for all things airplane has grown by leaps and bounds (much to the chagrin of his teacher, who had to remind him more than a few times not to draw airplane pictures on his homework - silly boy). It is wonderful to see him so passionate about something - and I can definitely see him going far. He even did a research project in school earlier this year about Neil Armstrong and discovered that the famous astronaut loved airplanes when he was a boy. So much so that he got his pilots license before he learned how to drive. So of course Lucas is determined to follow in Neil Armstrong's footsteps - and become the first man on Mars!

Earlier this summer, Lucas got to take his first ever flight in an airplane. (actually, he was in an airplane at the tender age of 8 months, but that doesn't count because he can't remember it and mom and dad would rather forget!) The EAA has a program called Young Eagles, and chapters all over the country offer free flights to kids aged 8-17, to expose them to the wonderful world of flight. Here he is, waiting for his turn - pretty excited, don't you think?

When his name was called, he started jumping up and down - I swear I thought he was going to float away all on his own! Here he is in the plane with pilot Ken, and again after their 15 minute flight. Lucas actually got to take the controls for a little bit, too - what an amazing experience!

When his birthday came around, I knew I just had to make a cake with airplanes on it. I thought of drawing pictures of the Blue Angels (which we were going to see perform, but the show was cancelled both days due to fog), but the day before his birthday we were at our parish festival, and while playing the kids' games, he won an airplane toy. I thought it would be perfect for a cake topper. The hard part was getting him to part with it, since he wanted to play with it right away.

The cake itself is lemon cake with lime curd filling. Very summery and perfect for a warm July day!

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Planes!

Eight years ago, I was blessed with the greatest gift ever - my son. He is an amazing little boy - so smart, silly, sweet, did I mention silly. Honestly, this kid makes me laugh every day. Sometimes, with the crazy things he has done, I'm amazed he's lived this long. But that's a boy for you!

For his birthday cake, he's had this planned out in his head for the past year and a half. On Christmas of 2011, we got him the Cars 2 DVD, and when he watched it, there was a preview for the new Disney Movie set to come out in theaters in the summer of 2013. From above the world of Cars.... it's Disney Planes!

The moment he saw it, a spark ignited into a wildfire of excitement. Lucas LOVES planes. He wants to be a pilot when he grows up - along with a truck driver like daddy, a policeman and a firefighter. But mostly a pilot. We live near an airport and have been taking him to a parking lot by the runway to watch the planes take off and land since he's been a baby. On his 2nd birthday, we took him to the EAA museum in Oshkosh. Every year for the past 3 years we have taken him to see the Air Show in downtown Milwaukee. And... *shhh... keep this a secret* my husband and I are thinking of taking him to the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh in two years when he turns 10.

But I digress. With the movie set to be released in theaters three weeks after his birthday this year, I knew that this would be the perfect time to make him the Disney Planes cake he's been wanting. I had this big huge picture in my head, but it ended up being scaled back somewhat as the guest list shrank. No problem - in fact I think he loved it.

The cake itself is yellow cake with chocolate buttercream filling, and all of the decorations, with the exception of the airplane, are made with frosting. His favorite part, besides the plane, was the skywriting on the side of the cake. The airplane is a toy I purchased - and after eating his slice of cake, he grabbed the toy and ran away with it to have many adventures.

Happy Birthday Lucas!

For my little slugger!

My son Lucas started playing T-ball with the local little league organization this year. When I got the schedule, I saw that his last game was scheduled for the day after his birthday. Perfect opportunity to have a built-in theme for his birthday celebration. It didn't take much for me to convince him to have a baseball birthday cake, but he had one more request - it had to have an airplane too. It didn't take long for me to figure it out. I found a die-cast airplane that came with its very own stand and put that on the cake. If you use your imagination (which for my son was very easy!), it looks like the plane is doing a fly-by past the baseball diamond! The cake itself, per his request, is chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (no filling here) and lots and lots of green grass, crushed graham crackers for the infield, and fondant bases

Happy 7th Birthday to my little slugger - congrats on a great year!